Friday, Dec. 8, 2017

Friday Morning Briefing

When former Comox Valley resident and north Island Conservation Officer Bryce Casavant refused to kill two baby black bears who ransacked a freezer in Port Hardy, he was suspended and, despite overwhelming public support, was reassigned to a desk job.

A west coast Vancouver Island First Nations has launched a run-of-the-river hydro project that powers the equivalent of 6,000 homes in Port Alberni. Read about it here.

Friends will celebrate the life of Comox Valley environmentalist and activist Ruth Masters from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10 at the Florence Filbert Centre in Courtenay. Jack Knox, Times-Colonist columnist and former Campbell River Courier-Islander editor, devoted his column to her this week. Read it here.

The National Energy Board ruled Thursday that the Texas company Kinder Morgan can now ramp up construction in Burnaby — without municipal permits. So much for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise that “only communities grant permission” for projects that affect them. Read opposing views about it here and here.